The Truth of the Forest of Magic in the Drillimation Danmaku Universe

East of the city of Kourindou, south of Kozankyo, and north of the Youkai Mountain range, there is a forest that goes by the name of the Forest of Magic. It was formerly the home of King Kourin and Queen Marisa, the eventual founders of the Federal Kingdom of Gensokyo.

Edo Period

Back when the kingdom was founded, many people referred to the Forest of Magic as “The Forest” as the land the kingdom occupied at the time was not huge. It earned its present name for the mushrooms that grow here and its use in medicine.

During the Edo Period, the vast majority of species found inside were far less numerous. Its biodiversity was vibrant. In terms of animals, wolves, cougars, and deer can be found here. The forest is also prone to natural disasters such as tornadoes and ice storms. These events create random mosaics of openings within canopies across the forest, and this was before the Federal Kingdom of Gensokyo was even founded. Youkai-borns often burned small areas of the forest to improve berry and oak mast production, as well as creating pathways for hunting and ease of travel.

After the Federal Kingdom of Gensokyo was founded, explorers reached the area as a way to cut trees to clear land for agriculture as well as providing timber for cabins and barns, as well as other buildings. As the Edo Period progressed, the bark from the trees were used as a source of tannin as a way to cure leather. By the Meiji restoration, tanning had become a huge industry in the Federal Kingdom of Gensokyo, with logs being sawn into other lumber products.

Meiji Period

After the Gensokyo continent unified into a single entity as the Federal Kingdom of Gensokyo the world knows today, wood chemical plants were built, producing charcoal, methanol, acetic acid, acetate of lime, and similar products were produced. This provided a market for virtually every size.

Taisho Period

At the start of the Taisho Period, Parliament passed a bill that allowed the federal government to buy land as a way to establish national forests. The Forest of Magic was designated as such in 1913.

Present Day

Today, the Forest of Magic is used for second-growth, and the trees are roughly the same age as they started growing around the same time and the land is managed through a silvicultural system referred to as even-aged management, which is similar to clearcutting.